This invention relates to a mouth guard for protecting medical instruments and fingers inserted in a patient's mouth from damage caused by the patient's teeth. More particularly, the invention in a preferred aspect relates to a mouth guard for use in connection with an endoscope and endoscopic procedures.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,838 discloses a teeth protector designed to protect teeth from chipping or breaking when instruments are inserted in a patient's mouth. The teeth protector comprises a pair of identical sections which allows a patient to move the jaw into biting contact with an instrument such as a laryngoscope placed in the patient's mouth. However, no provision is made for preventing damage to such instruments or for manipulating instruments placed in a patient's mouth. This device provides in fact that excessive pressures can be generated on the instrument.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,275,725 and 4,262,666 also disclose devices adapted for use in combination with instruments, such as a tube, to be inserted into a patient's mouth. However, both of these devices permit direct contact between the patient's teeth and the instrument with no means provided for protecting the instrument or for manipulation of the instrument in the patient's mouth.
Other known protective mouthpiece type devices include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,139,088 and 3,682,164. However, like the above-discussed patents, the devices disclosed therein also fail to provide the features of protecting instruments and fingers placed in a patient's mouth from being bitten as well as failing to provide for ease of manipulation of the the instrument.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a mouth guard for mounting in a patient's mouth which permits insertion of medical instruments into the patient's mouth without risking damage to the instruments as a result of the patient biting them.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a guard which also facilitates entry of and protection of fingers inserted in the patient's mouth for manipulation of the instrument.
Still another object is to provide such a guard which is adapted for being secured in the patient's mouth to prevent its inadvertent removal therefrom.
Another object is to provide such a guard which is made of a resilient material which allows the patient's teeth to make an impression therein without permanently deforming or breaking the guard, thereby preventing damage to patient's teeth.
Upon further study of the specification and appended claims, further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.